Standing 2 m 17 cm (7 ft 1½ in)[2] tall and often referred to as "the Gentle Giant", he was known for portraying Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979).

Other notable films include The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Cannonball Run II (1984), Pale Rider (1985), and Tangled (2010).

[4] When he was 9 years old, his family moved to Los Angeles County, California, where Kiel graduated from Baldwin Park High School.

[6] From 1963 to 1965, Kiel worked as a night-school mathematics instructor at the William B. Ogden Radio Operational School in Burbank, California.

[1] Kiel appeared in many television shows throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, including the famous 1962 Twilight Zone episode, "To Serve Man", where he portrayed the 9-foot (3-m) tall Kanamit aliens.

Other TV series he appeared in included Laramie ("Street of Hate", 1961), I Dream of Jeannie, The Rifleman ("The Decision", 1961), Honey West, Gilligan's Island, The Monkees, Daniel Boone, Emergency!, Starsky & Hutch, Land of the Lost, Simon & Simon, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and The Fall Guy.

[8] Kiel broke into films in the early 1960s with Eegah (1962), which was later featured on Elvira's Movie Macabre and Mystery Science Theater 3000, as were The Phantom Planet (1961) and The Human Duplicators (1965).

The James Bond film producers spotted Kiel in Barbary Coast, and thought he was ideal for the role of Jaws in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

He was often shot with his mouth closed or briefly showing his dangerous smile as he admitted the mouthpiece to simulate the metal teeth was extremely painful to wear and could only be used for a few minutes on every take.

This was his second outing as a metal-toothed villain; a year before being cast in The Spy Who Loved Me, he had played Reace in the comedy-thriller film Silver Streak (1976).

In the acclaimed animated Disney film, he portrayed Vlad, a surprisingly softhearted thug who collects ceramic unicorns.

[10] On September 10, 2014, three days before his 75th birthday, Kiel died at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, California, from heart disease.